Late Saturday night, Spice DAO, the decentralized independent organization that owns an unpublished copy of the script of Frank Herbert and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s never completed film, announced plans to move on. In a tweet, Spice DAO stated that it would “reveal the book, publish and sell a limited original animated series inspired by the book for the streaming service, and support projects created by the community.” The group had previously won a Christie’s auction in November, selling a copy for 2.66 million euros (just over $ 3 million), about 89 times the average estimate.
However, there was only one problem: Buying a copy of the book does not give the buyer the copyright. In the US and the EU, copyright usually extends to the life of the last living partner and for another 70 years after his death. The current rights holders are Jean Giraud and G.R. Giger and Jodorowsky, 92, are still in good shape.
Twitter users and crypto enthusiasts seem to react to the post with sarcasm. An unusually wild user named @TheNinjaWhippet responded with a link to a free and public copy of the book, which has been online since 2011. The post received over 3,500 likes.
According to copyright laws, Spice DAO must obtain approval from co-creators before creating an animated series inspired by the book and selling it to a streaming service, or waiting 70 years after Jodorowsky’s death for the works to enter the public domain. In addition, there is great uncertainty associated with whether a copy can be resold on equal terms, as auctions require the business to be assessed by an appraiser to determine the value. At the time of publication, it was approximately 1,236.12 ETH ($ 4 million) in the Spice DAO vault.
